Restaurant Gives Away 10,000 Free Twinkies

A tray of Twinkies that a pair of south suburban restaurants were giving away to customers on Dec. 5, 2012. The restaurant owners' bought 10,000 Twinkies after Hostess went out of business, and decided to give them away to customers. (Credit: CBS)

CHICAGO (CBS) — A south suburban restaurant was handing out free Twinkies to customers on Wednesday.

WBBM Newsradio’s Mike Krauser reports Baby’s Cheesesteak & Lemonade, which has two stores in Country Club Hills and Orland Park, had crates of Twinkies stacked up on its counters at lunchtime on Wednesday.

“It’s like a Twinkiepalooza,” Andres DeLeon, the marketing director for Baby’s Cheesesteak.

He said, when he heard Twinkie maker Hostess was going out of business, “initially we went to buy some Twinkies for ourselves, just personal consumption. But, of course, when we got there, our eyes lit up, and we were like, ‘We can actually take this entire store.”

They bought 10,000 Twinkies, and decided to give them away to customers.

“We’re just trying to create a buzz,” he said. “Right now, with this down economy, there’s not a lot of people giving away free things, so to me this is something that is enjoyment for everyone.”

He said a lot of kids who’ve never had a Twinkie before got to taste one thanks to the giveaway.

Mike KrauserMike Krauser has been a reporter, anchor, producer, writer, managing editor and news director during a career that started in Chicago in the late...More fromMike Krauser